1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an impact absorbing structure for a vehicle side door which opens and closes a door opening formed in a side part of a vehicle to allow a person to get into and out of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a vehicle side-door structure, the following is known conventionally. According to that, a continuous door opening with no partition is formed in a side part of a vehicle body, and a front door and a rear door cover the door opening so that it can be opened and closed. Then, the front door is pivotally attached on a front-door hinge at its front part to the vehicle body, the rear door is pivotally attached on a rear-door hinge at its rear part to the vehicle body. Next, a side door made up of the front door and the rear door is configured so as to have what is called a double-leafed hinged door structure. In addition, the rear-end part of the front door overlaps with the outside of the front-end part of the rear door, and a reinforcement member which extends in the up-and-down directions is provided on the inside of the front-end part of the rear door (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-138864 specification).
As a vehicle impact-absorbing structure, there is such a constitution as follows. According to that, a pillar trim is attached to a center pillar on the inside of a vehicle cabin, and inside this pillar trim, a rib structure body is united to the pillar trim. Thereby, if the head of a front-seat occupant comes into contact with the rib structure body from the inside of the vehicle cabin when the vehicle is bumped at its side part, the rib structure body is buckled to absorb an impact load (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-67213 specification).
In what is called a double-leafed hinged door in which a front door and a rear door cover a continuous opening with no partition so that the opening can be opened and closed, there is no center pillar. It has been difficult to apply the impact absorbing structure to a double-leafed hinged door with no center pillar.
Therefore, in such a double-leafed hinged door, the absorption of an impact on an occupant, specifically on the head of a front-seat occupant, needs to be established.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an impact absorbing structure for a vehicle side door which is capable of securing the absorption of an impact on an occupant to keep the occupant safer and making the structure simpler. In order to attain the object, in a side door including a door main body and a door sash portion, a sash-side door trim is provided in the door sash portion on the inside of a vehicle cabin, and an impact absorbing portion which absorbs an impact load when an occupant comes into contact therewith from the inside of the vehicle cabin is provided in a front longitudinal-side part of the sash-side door trim.